SpainEssay Preview: SpainReport this essaySpainSpain is a country in southern Europe, south of France. The total area is 505,990 sq km (195,364 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Madrid.Land and ResourcesThe largest part of Spain is a dry central plateau divided by mountain ranges, where rapid rivers flow through narrow valleys. A narrow plain edges the long coast. The Pyrenees Mountains form the border with France, and the narrow Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain from Africa.
Despite a climate with extremes of temperature and generally low rainfall, nearly one-third of Spains land is suitable for cultivation. Olive trees and grapevines are widely grown. The country also has many mineral resources, including coal, iron, and petroleum.
PopulationThe population of Spain is 39,107,912 (1997 estimate), with 77 percent of the people living in towns and cities. Ethnic groups include the Catalans, the Galicians, the Basques, and the Roma (Gypsies). About 97 percent of Spains population is Roman Catholic. Education is free and compulsory. Most of the people of Spain speak Castilian Spanish, but Catalan, Galician, and Basque are also spoken.
Spain has rich traditions of music, painting, and literature (see Spanish Literature). It is known for festivals called fiestas, for guitar music such as flamenco, and for bullfighting.
EconomyTraditionally an agricultural country, Spain saw rapid industrial growth during the late 1900s. Manufacturing now employs twice as many workers as agriculture and related activities. The country has a flourishing tourism industry. Fishing also contributes to the Spanish economy.
Spain is a leading wine producer. Among its manufactures are textiles, iron and steel, motor vehicles, ships, and cement. The unit of currency is the peseta (127 pesetas equal U.S. $1; 1996).
GovernmentThe head of state of Spain is a hereditary monarch. Executive power is held by the prime minister, a cabinet, and the Council of States, a consultative body. Spains parliament is made up of a 208-member Senate, which also has 47 special regional representatives, and a 350-member Congress of Deputies, which votes into office the prime minister proposed by the monarch.
HistoryHuman beings lived in what is now Spain during the Stone Age. The Iberians, a North African people, were well established by 1000 BC. The Celts later migrated from France and intermingled with the Iberians. The Phoenicians established a colony, probably in the 11th century BC, and Greek traders followed, establishing colonies on the Mediterranean coast.
In the late 3rd century BC the African state of Carthage conquered much of the region, a move viewed unfavorably by Rome, which forced the Carthaginians out in 206 BC. See Punic Wars. For the next seven centuries, until the fall of the Roman Empire in Europe in the 5th century AD, this region was one of Romes most prosperous possessions.
The Visigoths invaded the region in AD 412. Within seven years they were the regions dominant power. For three centuries the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse implanted Roman culture and Christianity in the peninsula. Roman Catholicism became the official state religion.
In 711 an Islamic army invaded from northern Africa and defeated the Visigoths. By 719 Muslims known as Moors ruled most of the region. Spanish civilization flowered during three centuries of Moorish rule. Learning was cultivated at Muslim universities, an extensive literature developed, and art and architecture flourished.
A remnant of Christian rule was preserved in the northern portion of the region. The next centuries saw an enlargement of Christian territory, and in 1056, with northern Spain consolidated, Ferdinand I proclaimed himself emperor of Spain, initiating the period of reconquest from the Moors. After a great battle fought on the plains of Toledo in 1212, Moorish power was limited to a few areas in the south, where it endured until 1492.
In 1469 Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand V of AragДÑ-n married, linking the two Spanish kingdoms. In 1478 they established the Inquisition to enforce the purity of the Catholic faith, and also to increase royal power. Inquisitors were given both civil and church power. Proceedings were secret and property confiscated. In 1492 the last Moorish stronghold was conquered. Religious uniformity was imposed throughout Spain by the forcible conversion or expulsion of Jews and Moors.
The Spanish monarchs sponsored the journey of Italian-Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus to find a westward route to the Indies. Columbuss voyages were followed by Spains expansion in the Americas. By the 1550s Spain controlled most of South America, Central America, Florida, Cuba, and, in Asia, the Philippine Islands. This empire brought enormous wealth to Spain, and it became a major power in Europe. In 1516, the year of Ferdinands death, Spain controlled southern Italy and had arranged strategic marriages with other royal families. Ferdinand was succeeded by his grandson, Charles, the first king of a united Spain. Charles was also an heir to the Habsburg dynasty and so held the Netherlands and Bourgogne. In 1519 he was elected Holy Roman emperor. See Charles V.
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For more on this, see: Spanish Power: The Rise and Fall of an Anglo-Spanish Empire, by David E. Hargrove
In 1520 the Spanish rulers of the Indies, Portugal, and India introduced their own territories to the West Indies through an agreement between the British Empire and the Spanish Empire. In 1523, the Spanish Emperor Philip II of Spain proclaimed independence from Spain and began a campaign of conquest to seize most of the West Indies and extend a prosperous empire to South America. In 1532 and 1534 Spain invaded Europe with a naval and fortifications designed to take the South American islands and colonize them. This invasion and colonization started with a series of disastrous battles with the natives of Puerto Rico, which soon were massacred or captured by the Spanish. In the 17th Century, Spain attacked the Spanish government in a series of devastating engagements and in 1563 the Spanish Emperor Philip I, the most powerful man in Spain during the Spanish-Indian War, had captured control of the British Kingdom and occupied the islands as a major part of New Spain. In 1576 he seized the Port of Havana and the Panama Canal. At the end of 1609, he had the Spanish Army defeated by Spain and France. The final defeat lasted almost 100 years before it was wiped out by the Spanish Empire. Spanish victory at the Battle of Guadalupe in the 17th Century
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The Spanish revolution in 1703 and 1706 made a huge splash in Latin America, and brought over the United States great fortunes. By the time the Americans arrived in the Americas, the empire was already under Spanish control, and it was only on February 7, 1706 that the two great Spanish powers entered the final confrontation with the United States: the Civil War over the island state of Texas and the Spanish-American War over the colony of Virginia and its territories. It was these warring powers that laid the foundation of the first Americas empire. The Spanish Empire was defeated in 1606, and, by the end of the century, the Empire had nearly exhausted its resources and the empire had no viable allies left for it to consolidate in the American West. More important, the European powers had finally discovered a new way of living and, without them, would not have been able to maintain the peace of their home continent and the expansion of their empire. The Spanish Rebellion of 1603 was the last American civil war in the West. And, in 1706, the first major war between Spain and the British over the Caribbean, which was fought between Spain and the Dominican Republic, ended in victory. In July, 1703, Spain and Portugal agreed to abandon the Treaty of Charles de Gaulle in recognition of the importance of the peace that existed in that treaty. The remaining thirteen sovereign states of Spain were represented in Latin America in 1706. The American Civil War: The Conquest of the Americas, by Philip V. Robinson
In 1803, John Henry Jackson established a Spanish colony in the Central American country of Cuc
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For more on this, see: Spanish Power: The Rise and Fall of an Anglo-Spanish Empire, by David E. Hargrove
In 1520 the Spanish rulers of the Indies, Portugal, and India introduced their own territories to the West Indies through an agreement between the British Empire and the Spanish Empire. In 1523, the Spanish Emperor Philip II of Spain proclaimed independence from Spain and began a campaign of conquest to seize most of the West Indies and extend a prosperous empire to South America. In 1532 and 1534 Spain invaded Europe with a naval and fortifications designed to take the South American islands and colonize them. This invasion and colonization started with a series of disastrous battles with the natives of Puerto Rico, which soon were massacred or captured by the Spanish. In the 17th Century, Spain attacked the Spanish government in a series of devastating engagements and in 1563 the Spanish Emperor Philip I, the most powerful man in Spain during the Spanish-Indian War, had captured control of the British Kingdom and occupied the islands as a major part of New Spain. In 1576 he seized the Port of Havana and the Panama Canal. At the end of 1609, he had the Spanish Army defeated by Spain and France. The final defeat lasted almost 100 years before it was wiped out by the Spanish Empire. Spanish victory at the Battle of Guadalupe in the 17th Century
[…]
The Spanish revolution in 1703 and 1706 made a huge splash in Latin America, and brought over the United States great fortunes. By the time the Americans arrived in the Americas, the empire was already under Spanish control, and it was only on February 7, 1706 that the two great Spanish powers entered the final confrontation with the United States: the Civil War over the island state of Texas and the Spanish-American War over the colony of Virginia and its territories. It was these warring powers that laid the foundation of the first Americas empire. The Spanish Empire was defeated in 1606, and, by the end of the century, the Empire had nearly exhausted its resources and the empire had no viable allies left for it to consolidate in the American West. More important, the European powers had finally discovered a new way of living and, without them, would not have been able to maintain the peace of their home continent and the expansion of their empire. The Spanish Rebellion of 1603 was the last American civil war in the West. And, in 1706, the first major war between Spain and the British over the Caribbean, which was fought between Spain and the Dominican Republic, ended in victory. In July, 1703, Spain and Portugal agreed to abandon the Treaty of Charles de Gaulle in recognition of the importance of the peace that existed in that treaty. The remaining thirteen sovereign states of Spain were represented in Latin America in 1706. The American Civil War: The Conquest of the Americas, by Philip V. Robinson
In 1803, John Henry Jackson established a Spanish colony in the Central American country of Cuc
In 1556, when Charles relinquished the Spanish throne to his son, Philip II, Spain was prosperous, and its “Golden Age” of culture and art began. In 1580 Philip acquired Portugal and its territories in Asia, Africa, and Brazil, becoming ruler of the largest empire in the world.
Troubles gradually accumulated, however. Philips persecution of Protestants and his attempts to rule the Netherlands led to war with Protestant England. Philip sent the great Spanish Armada against England in 1588, but it was defeated. Epidemics swept Spain in the 1590s, significantly reducing the population. Although Spain reached its cultural height in the 1600s, the country was in political turmoil.
In 1701 the Austrian Habsburgs and the French Bourbons both claimed the Spanish throne, leading to the War of the Spanish Succession, which involved much of Europe until 1713. Spains European possessions went to Austria, while the throne and the overseas empire passed to France. Bourbon rule was notable for large public works programs, commerce, industry, agriculture, a revived intellectual life, and economic